Posted originally on 01/06/2014 for Huffington Post Meatless Monday in the City of Pleasant Living To start the new year off right, a true story in which the seemingly impossible comes to pass — and in my ‘hood, of all places. Sprawling Miami-Dade County may be best known for Miami, where I live, but it…

“Summer surprised us,” writes T.S. Eliot. The phrase comes early in “The Wasteland’ and it surprises the reader, too, already so lost in the poem’s rich layers as to be startled by these five simple syllables that come in the seventh line. Summer always surprises me, especially September, which I still associate with fall, with…

Some people (and you know who you are) do not share recipes. It’s time to give, darlings. Wouldn’t you rather be known as a big-hearted person who shares the wealth? And even if you write out your prized recipe in painstaking detail, your friend’s version will come out different. Different stove, different cookware,…